Chalo Narendrabhai! was the unanimous slogan chanted by top notch
industrialists and delegates present at the Vibrant Gujarat Global
Investors Summit 2009. Leaders from 37 countries including Japan,
Britain, Italy, Singapore, Kenya and Uganda were present at the event.
Industry tycoons like Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Ratan Tata,
KV Kamath, Anil Ambani, Sunil Mittal, Captain Gopinath, Sabeer Bhatia,
AM Malik, Shashi Ruhia, and Sterling Nitin Sandesara, had
expressed their confidence in investing in Gujarat; they also
hailed Modi as a ‘super CEO’ for showcasing future
plans in the state.
Chief Minister, Narendra Modi described the event as “the
power house of knowledge, skills, talents, intelligence and
entrepreneurship. It is not merely a platform for forward looking
prospective investors but it shows the path to
them.” While promoting FDI investment, Modi later
announced that Japan has come forth as a partner country. Describing
Gujarat as an ‘investors paradise’ Kumar Mangalam
Birla said, “We need many more Narendrabhai’s in
India. Other states in India need to emulate what Gujarat has done till
date.” Mukesh Ambani declared, “Gujarat has shown
that not just opportunities but even challenges can be transformed into
investments.”
Despite the global financial turmoil, the event was a
thumping success with investments in the biotechnology and
pharma alone amounting to Rs 2,508 crore and Rs 3,250 crore
respectively. In the biotech sector, 30 MoUs were signed by 25
companies. These include two international companies, six companies
outside Gujarat while 17 are Gujarat-based companies. In pharma sector,
27 MoUs were signed by 25 companies including four international
companies, four companies are outside Gujarat while 17 are
Gujarat-based companies. The projects include contract manufacturing,
bulk drug manufacture, formulations, drug delivery systems. The
investment is expected to generate employment to around 14,000 skilled
people.
Biotech and pharma sector
Over the years, the biotech and pharma industry sector in Gujarat has
seen myriad developments. The state government earlier
formulated the State Biotechnology Policy 2007-2012 and the Gujarat
State Biotechnology Mission was set up with the primary purpose of
being the catalyst for entrepreneurs and attract investments in the
biotech sector in Gujarat. Today Gujarat boasts 50 biotechnology
companies and 66 support organizations, the present turnover of this
sector is around $195-245 million. There are 67 percent corporate
biotechnology units, 20 percent academic units, 11 percent R&D
institutions and two percent NGOs. The stakeholders of Gujarat
biotechnology industry compromise 60 percent of healthcare, 20 percent
of agriculture, 16 percent of each industry and environment sectors and
the other sectors contributing eight percent.
Over the years, the state has also evolved as the hub for
pharmaceutical companies,which contributes to over 42 percent of
India’s total turnover in the pharmaceutical sector and
providing employment to 5,200 people. The state has around 3,267
registered units with total investments of $1.6 billion. Prominent
names in the pharmaceutical sector are Zydus Cadilla, Torrent
Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharma, Concord, Cadilla Pharma and Intas
Biopharma.
Gujarat’s other strengths include agriculture
biotechnology which includes companies like Bayer Crop
Science Ltd, Excel Cropcare, Gujarat Life Sciences and Gujarat State
Fertilizer and Chemicals Ltd. In the industrial biotechnology front
major companies are Maps(India) Ltd, Anil Biochem Ltd, Americos
Industries Inc and Zytex Biotech. Other areas include environmental
biotechnology, bioinformatics, educational infrastructure and the
upcoming marine biotechnology.
The state is also making the news for the emerging SEZs and biotech
parks. Gujarat is setting up a biotech SEZ at Savali, Vadodara having a
total area of 1,700 acre. In addition to this, the state is also
decided to develop a hub of academic and research institutions. Other
SEZ zones include Pharmaez (Zydus Cadilla) which covers 48.83
hectares, PHAEZ (Cadilla Pharma) which covers an area of 200
hectares, Dishman Pharma SEZ which covers 139 hectares and JB
Chemicals SEZ covering a total area of 130 hectares
In fact, the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2009 has witnessed the inflow of
investments amounting to $367 million with MoUs between the state,
biotech players and industrialists from abroad and outside Gujarat.
Major alliances included Zydus-Altana and Biogene, Reliance Life
Sciences (RLS) and GenMedix, Intas Biopharma and Virionics Corporation,
Synchron and Paraxel and Alembic and UCB.

The way forward
The Vibrant Gujarat Global Investment Summit 2009 saw the
presence of the stalwarts of the industry. The biotechnology and pharma
session was chaired by Pankaj Patel, CMD, Zydus Group and speakers
included Ram Kaundinya, MD, Advanta India Ltd,
Hyderabad, Aindrilla Dasgupta from Novozymes South Asia Ltd, Ram Gupta,
president and MD, Thermo Fisher Scientific Ltd, Dr Anita
Goel, chairman and CEO Nanobiosym, US and Henrich Svenmark,
GM, Asia pacific, GE Life Science, I A Modi, chairman, Cadila
Pharma, Dr Jaynarayan Vyas, minister of health and family
welfare, and Jaisingh Chauhan, minister of state for primary,
secondary and adult education, were present at the event.
Speaking at the event, Akshay Kumar Saxena, mission director, GSBTM,
said, “Gujarat is gradually changing from a science-based
economy to a knowledge-based economy. Signs of growth include start-up
companies, expansions (like Intas venture into North America)
collaborations and acquisitions (Zydus -Etna and Synchron-
Paraxel).”
Around 600-700 professionals –largely from biotechnology and
pharma Industries, both from Gujarat and outside Gujarat, associations
of pharma and drug manufacturers, researchers, faculty and
professionals participated in the summit. Representatives from nearly
100 pharma and biotech industry, participated in the seminar. Other
participants included faculty and researchers from Gujarat university,
Nirma University, Sardar Patel University, Mark Patent Cell, GETCO,
IIAR, Zydus research center, GCRI, PERD, CSMCRI and NRCMAP. The glaring
fact was interest shown by Nanobiosym, a US based company which has
expressed interest for developing ecosystem for nanobiotechnology
research, education and manufacturing related services.
Nanobiosym has expressed its commitment for developing a nano-biotech
park, incubator facilities and venture financing to biotechnology
sector in Gujarat. The occasion also saw presentation by Lonza
biologicals, one of the biggest contract manufacturing company from
Switzerland.
A total of 57 MoUs were signed, with committed investment of Rs 5,738
crore. The investments include 30 MoUs in biotechnology sector and 27
MoUs in pharma sector. The projects cover vaccines,
bio-degradable plastic, immunosuppressants, anti-cancer drugs,
bio-pharma products, R&D, biotech bulk drug manufacture,
immuno-boosters, contract research, bio-catalysts, industrial enzymes,
bio-fertilizers, educational and research infrastructure, and
nanotechnology.
The projects pertain to R&D, product development, manufacturing
and contract research include projects in bio-pharma, agriculture,
marine environment and animal biotech. The investment in these sector
is expected to generate employment to 7,300 skilled people. Vapi-Surat
cluster, Ankleshwar-Bharuch cluster, Anand- Vadodra cluster, Ahmedabad
cluster and Bhavnagar are the main areas of focus for investments. In
the year 2000, Rs 300 crore was alloted for the development of
biotechnology sector in the state. Investment of around Rs 200 crore,
has been made in the period between 2000 to 2006. Investment of around
Rs 1559 crore has been earmarked for the development of the biotech
sector in the year 2009.

“Strong
growth for the biotech industry in Gujarat”

—Utkarsh Palnitkar,
partner and leader, advisory services for infrastructure real estate
and government, Ernst & Young
What is the biotech scenario in Gujarat? What makes it different from
other states?
The landscape of Gujarat biotech industry, consist of more than 80
biotechnology companies, 70 support
organizations and around 14
research centers. As per
2007 estimates, annual turnover in biotechnology in
Gujarat has been around $150–175 million. The
thrust areas of Gujarat biotech industry include
healthcare, pharmaceuticals, agriculture biotechnology,
industrial enzymes, bioinformatics,
and contract research, marine
and environmental biotechnology. Some
of the prominent domestic
biotech companies include Zydus Cadila,
Concord biotech, Cadila pharmaceuticals, Maps India
and Intas Biopharma. Players like
Sterling Biotech, Zytex
Biotech, Bayer Cropscience and
Quintiles have started their
operations in Gujarat.
The state is rich in biological resources, has been
a traditional base for pharmaceuticals, an
industry in which biotechnology finds wide applications. All
of this is backed by academic
infrastructure and strong government support.

How do you see the
progress of biotech in the state in the coming years?
The trends clearly forecast a strong growth for the biotech industry in
Gujarat. The specific areas of thrust would be biopharma, agri-biotech
and marine biotech. Government is already in process for developing
specific infrastructure in each of the sub-sectors in the form of
industrial parks. Each of these parks would also have biotech
R&D incubators, which would help to promote innovation.
The growth would further be fuelled through the
fructification of the various memorandum of understandings (MoUs)
signed by the international biotech companies with the Government of
Gujarat. The increased focus of traditional pharma companies on biotech
would also drive the growth of the sector.

“Gujarat entrepreneurship is very receptive and always
prepared to welcome change”

—Mani Iyer,
executive director, Intas Biopharmaceuticals Ltd

What is the biotech
scenario in Gujarat? What are the advantages of the state over other
states?
Driven by new enterprise and innovation in recent years, biotechnology
sector in Gujarat is witnessing persistent growth. Convergence of a
host of enabling factors such as world-class infrastructure, active
government support and increased planned investment, both public and
private, have imparted dynamism to the sector.
Besides agricultural biotechnology (tissue Culture or transgenic
crops), other related areas that hold promise are diagnostics,
vaccines, stem cell, animal healthcare and clinical trials. To keep the
momentum going and maintain growth, the state government on the lines
of Vibrant Gujarat Summit, should actively think of organizing
dedicated events on biotechnology sector such as hosting international
meetings, seminars, workshops and invite global biopharmaceutical
companies to Gujarat. Other states, which have focused in such
activities have developed successful platform for their respective
companies to go global and reach out to international pharma and
biotech companies.

What are your future
plans in the state?
Along with the rapid industrial growth in Gujarat, Intas
Biopharmaceuticals would continue to work on its planned initiatives.
From the beginning, our business approach has been based on developing
strategic partnerships and potential collaborative opportunities. Based
in Gujarat, our growth was fuelled by deeper penetration in Indian
market and simultaneously expanding operations into developing markets
of Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Middle East. We expect this
growth to be fuelled in coming years by the opening up of European and
North American markets for our biogeneric offerings.